Robert de Craon

Robert de Craon (c. 1100-13 January 1147) was the Grand Master of the Templar Order from 1136 to 1146.

Biography
Robert was born around the turn of the 12th century to an Aquitainian noble family, the Craones. He was wedded to a Angoumois noblewoman but abandoned his engagement to fight in Palestine under the Grand Master Hughes de Payens. In 1136, after the death of Hughes, he became the new Grand Master.

He was less fortunate as a military leader. As soon as he had been elected, he defeated Zengi, the emir of Aleppo and let his knights plunder the enemy camp; Zengi returned and destroyed the unorganized pillagers. Robert authorized the Spanish Templars to lead a naval expedition of about 70 ships against Lisbon, but this also ended in defeat. In 1140 the Templars resisted a numerically superior Turkish army at the Battle of Tecua. In 1143, after protracted negotiations between Ramon Berenguer IV (the Count of Barcelona and a Templar) the order's mission on the Iberian peninsula was defined. According to William of Tyre, Robert participated in the Council of Acre during the Second Crusade in 1148.

Death
Robert de Craon was killed in Jerusalem by a member of the Hashshashin named Nikolaos, who was by then an 80 year-old veteran. Craon was the mastermind behind the Second Crusade, launching it during the confusion that followed Zengi's assassination. Nikolaos entered the Templar District of Jerusalem and found Robert de Craon executing many Assassins himself. Nikolaos climbed a balcony and threw a rope dart around his neck, tying it to the balcony and hanging him. Craon's death was followed by the failure of the Second Crusade, and he was succeeded by Everard des Barres.